Powersystems HV specialists are delighted to update that the team building Dogger Bank Wind Farm has safely installed almost 73 miles of HVDC underground cables in East Riding of Yorkshire in another giant milestone for the world-leading project.
- Almost 73 miles of onshore HVDC cable weighing 3,500 tonnes installed in East Riding of Yorkshire
- Cable installation was carried out by North Wales-based Jones Bros Civil Engineering and supported by Bristol-based Powersystems UK and North Yorkshire cable specialists FB Taylor
- Initial ground preparation and drilling works supported by Essex-based Joseph Gallagher Group
- Cable work integral to future transmission of renewable energy from the world’s largest offshore wind farm to UK homes and businesses
Onshore construction for the first two phases of Dogger Bank Wind Farm began in January 2020 when Jones Bros Civil Engineering broke ground near the village of Ulrome in East Riding of Yorkshire.
The North Wales civil engineering specialists have installed almost 73 miles of HVDC cables in East Riding, with support from Bristol-based Powersystems and North Yorkshire cable installation specialists F B Taylor.
Jones Bros commenced installation of the cable ducting system in spring 2020, with the support of Essex-based Joseph Gallagher undertaking a series of horizontal directional drills in preparation for cable installation works to begin last summer.
This latest milestone marks the completion of HVDC cable installation work in East Riding, with the team now focusing on the installation of around four miles of HVAC cable from its convertor station site near Beverley, to the Creyke Beck electricity sub-station near Cottingham.
Work is also underway to reinstate the land to its former condition, following completion of this part of the programme.
Onshore project manager for Dogger Bank Wind Farm, Oliver Flattery, said:
“The whole team has worked incredibly hard and diligently since the start of 2020 to safely and efficiently prepare the 30km route, through a combination of trenching and drilling methods, before installing protective ducts and then feeding 3,362 tonnes of underground cables through these ducts.
“This has been a huge undertaking, and one we’re all proud to have been part of.
“We thank local residents and businesses in East Riding of Yorkshire for their patience and understanding over the last 2 years while this work has been taking place.”
Dogger Bank Wind Farm is being built in the North Sea more than 130km from the Yorkshire coast in three phases known as Dogger Bank A, B and C. Dogger Bank A and B phases will connect to the national grid near Beverley in East Riding of Yorkshire, while Dogger Bank C will connect to the grid near Redcar in the Tees Valley.
The world-class renewable energy project, which will be capable of powering 6 million UK homes annually on completion, is a joint venture between SSE Renewables (40%), Equinor (40%) and Eni Plenitude (20%).
The electricity generated by the Dogger Bank A and B wind turbines will come ashore south of Bridlington at Ulrome in East Riding, and be transmitted via underground HVDC cables to the onshore convertor station site in East Riding.
The HVDC cable route ends at the convertor station site near Beverley, where two convertor stations are currently under construction. Here, the electricity will be converted from HVDC to HVAC current for transmission to homes and businesses via the UK grid network.
The Dogger Bank project is the first offshore wind farm in the UK to use HVDC technology, which allows electricity to be transmitted efficiently across long distances.
Jones Bros project manager James Lockwood said:
“Hitting this key milestone on the world’s largest offshore wind farm has been made possible thanks to the efforts of every individual on site.
“I know it brings everyone from senior managers to trainees and apprentices a great sense of pride to be associated with this project, and we’re excited to see how the rest of the scheme develops.”
Nigel Baldwin, Health and Safety Director for F B Taylor, said:
“Working on the largest offshore wind farm has been a humbling experience for all involved and something that we are immensely proud of. We would like to thank the full site team for their work ethic and support during this project and hope to be involved with many more offshore opportunities throughout the coming years”.
Jonathan Stock, Head of Projects for Powersystems UK, said:
“We are very pleased to announce the completion of the HVDC cable installation at Dogger Bank Wind Farm, the world’s largest offshore windfarm. This is a huge achievement for all involved and particularly the efforts of the Powersystems UK team, our supply chain partners FB Taylors and Collett Transport and partners Jones Bros.
“The team showed great pride, professionalism, proactiveness, partnership and priority towards health, safety, environment, and quality.”
Tony Matheson, Director at Joseph Gallagher Limited, said:
“This has been a fantastic project to work on over the past two years. Our team have been instrumental throughout, operating four horizontal directional drilling rigs simultaneously during peak times, installing an impressive 27km of duct in 140 drills – ranging from 50m to 620m and then returning to grout the cables after the install.
“It’s been a true collaborative effort working with Jones Bros throughout the project. The team’s work ethic shone through helping to deliver the project to programme and with safety at the forefront – something we are very proud to have been part of.”
Offshore construction work on the first two phases of the project began in April with the start of work to install sub-sea HVDC cables off the Yorkshire coast. And in July the project celebrated the successful installation of the first foundation in the North Sea. Next year the team will install the first turbine on Dogger Bank A, with a total 277 GE Renewable Energy Haliade-X turbines set to be installed on all three phases of the project by 2026.
Onshore work is also underway on the third phase of the windfarm in the Tees Valley, where the project is collaborating with neighbouring Sofia Offshore Wind Farm, owned by RWE, to minimise disruption to the local community.
For further information:
Media contact – Dogger Bank Wind Farm: Richard Holligan, SSE Renewables Richard.Holligan@sse.com +44 (0) 1738 342530
Media contact – Dogger Bank Wind Farm: Rachel Lawrence, SSE Renewables rachel.lawrence@sse.com +44 (0) 7385 368783
About Dogger Bank Wind Farm:
- The 3.6GW Dogger Bank Wind Farm will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm when completed in 2026.
- It is being built in three 1.2GW phases: Dogger Bank A, B and C.
- The project is a joint venture between SSE Renewables (40%), Equinor (40%) and Eni Plenitude (20%).
- SSE Renewables is lead operator for the development and construction of Dogger Bank Wind Farm. Equinor will be lead operator of the wind farm on completion for its expected operational life of around 35 years.
- Financial Close on Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B was reached in November 2020, with Financial Close for Dogger Bank C reached in December 2021. Taken in aggregate, reaching Financial Close on all three phases of Dogger Bank Wind Farm is the largest offshore wind project financing to date globally.
- Consent for Dogger Bank Wind Farm was granted in 2015.
- Each of the three phases of Dogger Bank Wind Farm secured 15-year CfD contracts for 1.2GW of low carbon power for of low carbon power production in the UK’s third CfD Allocation Round, announced September 2019.
- In May 2021, Dogger Bank Wind Farm took another major step forward after passing a required delivery milestone under the UK’s Contracts for Difference scheme for low carbon power.
- Dogger Bank Wind Farm is located in the North Sea, with each phase more than 130km from the Yorkshire Coast.
- Onshore construction began in 2020 and is currently underway for Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B, while offshore construction on Dogger Bank A began in Spring 2022. First power is expected in Summer 2023 and Summer 2024 for Dogger Bank A and B, respectively, with commercial operations to follow around 6 months later.
- Onshore cable installation civils works for Dogger Bank C started in Q1 2022, with construction of the onshore convertor station to commence later this year. Offshore export cable installation will commence in Q1 2024 with offshore platform installation to commence in Q2 2024.
- Foundation installation on Dogger Bank C will commence in Q3 2024 while turbine installation will commence in Q2 2025. First power is anticipated in Q3 2025 and full power in Q1 2026.
- Dogger Bank Wind Farm is fully committed to supporting the UK offshore wind supply chain. To date we estimate more than 1,500 UK roles have been created or supported in relation to the construction and operation of the wind farm.
- 470 jobs are expected to be recruited by GE Renewable Energy across the north-east of England in support of the delivery and operation of all three phases of the project. These will be made up of around 300 skilled roles for turbine installation and commissioning activities and 170 servicing roles at Port of Tyne under GE’s five-year Service and Warranty Agreements for Dogger Bank phases A, B and C once operational.
- At least a further 30 roles will be hired by Equinor as operator of the wind farm, based at the Port of Tyne or offshore.
- 170 new full-time UK-based jobs will be created by North Star Renewables in crewing and shore-based roles for the operation of the service fleet for Dogger Bank Wind Farm.
- Up to 100 peak construction jobs will be created by Jones Bros. Civil Engineering, one of the UK’s leading civil engineering contractors, on the installation of onshore cable infrastructure for Dogger Bank A and B.
- Dogger Bank A and B has confirmed GE’s Haliade-X 13MW as the turbine powering the first two phases of the project. As the first order for the Haliade-X 13MW, installation at Dogger Bank A will be the first time the turbine is installed in the world.
- Installation of GE’s upscaled Haliade-X 14MW turbine at Dogger Bank C will be the first time the 14MW turbine is installed in the world.
- One rotation of the Haliade-X turbine blades can power one UK home for more than two days.
- The wind turbines will be installed on monopile foundations.
- Dogger Bank will be the first High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) connected wind farm in the UK due to its distance from shore, introducing new transmission systems to the UK and paving the way for other large offshore wind farms.
- Around 10,000 people, including world leaders, have signed their name on a Dogger Bank turbine as a symbol of their support for climate action. The names will appear on one of the first turbines to be installed on the wind farm from 2023.
- For more information about Dogger Bank Wind Farm visit doggerbank.com
About SSE Renewables
SSE Renewables is a leading developer, owner and operator of renewable energy across the UK and Ireland, with a portfolio of around 4GW of onshore wind, offshore wind and hydro. Part of the FTSE-listed SSE plc, its strategy is to drive the transition to a net zero future through the world class development, construction and operation of renewable energy assets.
SSE Renewables owns nearly 2GW of operational onshore wind capacity t. Its 1,459MW hydro portfolio includes 300MW of pumped storage and 750MW of flexible hydro. Its operational offshore wind portfolio consists of 487MW across two offshore joint venture sites, Beatrice and Greater Gabbard, both of which it operates on behalf of its asset partners.
SSE Renewables is aiming to treble its renewable energy output by 2030. In addition to Dogger Bank Wind Farm, SSE Renewables is currently leading the construction of the Seagreen 1 offshore wind farm (1,075MW, SSE Renewables share: 49%) and is developing the Berwick Bank and Marr Bank offshore wind farms (up to 4,150MW) in Scotland, North Falls (up to 504MW, SSE Renewables share: 50%) in England, and Arklow Bank Wind Park Phase 2 (520MW) in Ireland. Onshore it is constructing the Viking wind farm (443MW) in Shetland and Gordonbush Extension (38MW) and has a further 1GW of onshore wind in development.
SSE Renewables is a Principal Partner to the UK Government for COP26 UN climate summit taking place in Glasgow in November 2021.
About Equinor
Equinor is a leading broad energy partner to the UK, supplying natural gas from Norway, developing domestic energy resources and generating low-carbon electricity. Equinor has been operating in the UK for nearly 40 years and aims to reach net zero emissions globally by 2050. Headquartered in Norway, the company employs 22,000 people globally, and over 650 in the UK. Equinor supports the UK economy by investing billions in crucial energy infrastructure, working with over 700 suppliers across the country.
In 2021 Equinor supplied nearly 30% of the UK’s demand for natural gas and around one fifth of its demand for oil, both produced with one of the lowest carbon footprints in the industry. It operates the Mariner oil field and is maturing the Rosebank project with plans to make it one of the most energy efficient developments in the UKCS in line with the UK Government’s North Sea Transition Deal supply decarbonisation goals.
Equinor currently powers around 750,000 UK homes through its three operational wind farms; Sheringham Shoal, Dudgeon, and the world’s first floating wind farm, Hywind Scotland. In partnership with SSE Renewables and Eni Plenitude, Equinor is building the largest offshore wind farm in the world, Dogger Bank, off the Northeast coast of England, and is maturing its plans to extend both the Dudgeon and Sheringham Shoal wind farms.
It is also a leader in both carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen, developing low-carbon power with carbon capture, hydrogen, and CO2 transport and storage projects in the UK.
About Eni Plenitude
Plenitude is a unique Energy Company that integrates production from renewables, the sale of gas and electricity, energy services and a large network of electric vehicle charging points. It currently provides electricity and gas to around 10 million households and businesses across Europe. All retail power customers will be provided with carbon neutral electricity from this year onwards.
To meet the growing demand for green energy, Plenitude is developing solar and wind projects, with 6GW capacity expected to be in place by 2025 and more than 15GW by 2030, from 1.5GW today. Through its subsidiary Be Charge, Plenitude owns a network of over 9,000 EV charging points that will be expanded to both Italy and Europe, with over 30,000 charging points planned by 2025 and over 35,000 by 2030. Plenitude is also Italy’s leading distributor of electricity generated by small-scale photovoltaic plants thanks to Evolvere, a company which was acquired in 2020.
As a Società Benefit , Plenitude’s aim of having a positive impact on people, communities and the environment is incorporated into its Articles of Association, and forms part of Eni’s broader commitment to create value through the energy transition. Plenitude aims to achieve net zero Scope 3 emissions by 2040 and thanks to an integrated and diversified model it will provide 100% decarbonised energy to all its customers.
Plenitude is present in Italy, France, Greece, Slovenia, Spain, Portugal, the UK, Norway, the US, Kazakhstan and Australia.